On Jan. 18, unidentified thieves broke into a locked administrative office. They stole several laptops, which contained the names, addresses, and Social Security information of 1,400 individuals. The University sent an e-mail notifying the students whose personal information was compromised. But this e-mail was sent on Jan. 29, 11 days after the robbery.
This is a highly sensitive topic for all involved, students and administrators alike. The administration had sensitive information temporarily stored on notebook computers behind locked doors. That there was a break-in is not administrators’ fault. What they can and should hold themselves accountable for, however, is the delayed response time. Obviously, thorough investigation and careful analysis of the compromised information took time, but nobody was told anything for over a week. Furthermore, the fact that students whose information was not stolen received no notification at all is confusing and discomforting. While there is some logic in not alarming the entire undergraduate population without being sure of what happened, the University has an obligation to let its students know in a timely manner if they are at risk. There is much to be said for trying to maintain a sense of security for students. However, that sense of security should not be imbued under false pretenses.
Moving forward, the University needs to make every effort to provide transparency to faculty, students, and parents—in short, to all Columbia affiliates. We do not yet know what the motive for the break-in was, which office was broken into, what this means for other offices with equally sensitive information, or what the implications are for the future of on-campus security. The administration needs to make sure that community members are kept as informed as possible, as quickly as possible. Campus security was breached. Timely notification would have ensured that students’ trust was not broken, too.
Karina Yu recused herself from the writing of this editorial.
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